.
Early years Marcantonio's date of birth is unknown, but was by 1482 at the latest. He was possibly born in
Argine, near
Bologna, Italy, where he is assumed to have grown up. He trained in the workshop of the leading
goldsmith and painter in Bologna,
Francesco Francia. Vasari claimed that Marcantonio quickly demonstrated more aptitude than Francia, and started designing and producing fashionable waist-buckles (among other items) in
niello (engraved metal which is filled in with alloy in a contrasting colour). This is doubted, however, by
Arthur Mayger Hind, who sees no evidence of a background in niello technique in his early engravings. No paintings produced by Marcantonio are known or documented, although some drawings survive. His first dated engraving,
Pyramus and Thisbe, comes from 1505, although a number of undated works come from the years before this. From 1505–11, Marcantonio engraved about 80 pieces, with a wide variety of subject matter, from
pagan mythology, to religious scenes. His early works use his own compositions, combining elements from Francia and other North Italian artists, and like all Italian printmakers in these years he was strongly affected by the enormously accomplished prints of
Dürer, which were widely distributed in Italy. Like other
printmakers such as
Giulio Campagnola, he borrowed elements of Dürer's landscapes in a cut and paste fashion, and also borrowed from his technique. Dürer was in Bologna in 1506, as was
Michelangelo, and he may have met one or both of them.
Reproductions About this time he began to make copies of Dürer's
woodcut series, the
Life of the Virgin. This was extremely common practice, although normally engravers copied other expensive engravings rather than the cheaper
woodcuts. However Dürer's woodcuts had raised the standard of the medium considerably, and since Marcantonio continued to copy a large number of both Dürer's engravings and woodcuts, he must have found it profitable. His early copies included Dürer's famous AD
monogram, and Dürer made a complaint to the Venetian Government, which won him some legal protection for his monogram, but not his compositions, in Venetian territory - an important case in the slowly evolving history of
intellectual property law. Marcantonio appears to have spent some of the last half of the decade in Venice, but no dates are known.
Rome '', c 1525 Around 1510, Marcantonio travelled to
Rome and entered the circle of artists surrounding
Raphael. This influence began showing up in engravings titled
The Climbers (in which he reproduced part of
Michelangelo's
Soldiers surprised bathing, also called
Battle of Cascina). After a reproduction of a work by Raphael, entitled
Lucretia, Raphael trained and assisted Marcantonio personally. Another famous engraving, the
Judgement of Paris, dated 1515 or 1516, after Raphael, became the composition source for
Édouard Manet when he painted
The Luncheon on the Grass. The two started a successful printing establishment under a
colorgrinder,
Il Baveria, that quickly expanded into an engraving school with Marcantonio at the head. Among his most distinguished pupils were
Marco Dente (
Marco da Ravenna),
Giovanni Jacopo Caraglio and
Agostino de Musi (
Agostino Veneziano).
Later years Marcantonio and his pupils continued to make engravings based upon Raphael's work, even after Raphael's death in 1520. In many instances, Marcantonio would not copy the finished painting, but instead worked from early sketches and drafts. This method produced variations on a theme and were moderately successful. Around 1524, Marcantonio was briefly imprisoned by
Pope Clement VII for making the
I modi set of erotic engravings, from the designs of
Giulio Romano, which were later accompanied by sonnets written by
Pietro Aretino. At the intercession of the
Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici,
Baccio Bandinelli and
Pietro Aretino, he was released, and set to work on his plate of the
Martyrdom of St. Lawrence after Bandinelli. During the
Sack of Rome, in 1527, he was forced to pay a heavy ransom by the Spaniards and fled in poverty. It is unclear where he stayed after his departure from Rome until his death in 1534. File:Bathers on the edge of a river bed, with hunters emerging fr Wellcome V0049686.jpg|
Bathers on the edge of a river, or
The Climbers, an important print of 1510, based on a detail of
Michelangelo's
Battle of Cascina; this was the last print he dated. File:Raimondi Statue of Marcus Aurelius.jpg|The
Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, one of many prints of antiquities. File:Marcantonio Raimondi - David and Goliath - WGA18973.jpg|
David and Goliath, 1515–16 File:Marcantonio Raimondi - Amadeus Berruti with Austeritas, Amititia, and Amor.jpg|
Amadeus Berruti with Austeritas, Amititia, and Amor, с. 1517 File:Joseph and Potiphar's Wife LACMA M.88.91.149.jpg|
Joseph and
Potiphar's Wife, c. 1520 File:A Young and an Old Bacchant.jpg|A Young and an Old Bacchant. File:Adam and Eve by Marcantonio Raimondi.jpg|F. Best after Marcantonio Raimondi,
Adam and Eve, 19th century, engraving, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library, Washington, DC ==Notes==